When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free, with The Workout Witch, Liz Tenuto

Summary

Podcast Summary: "When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free"

The Spiritual Hustler with Jessica Zweig & guest, The Workout Witch (Liz Tenuto) — April 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Spiritual Hustler is a deep dive into somatic healing with renowned expert Liz Tenuto, aka "The Workout Witch." Host Jessica Zweig explores how trauma manifests in the body, the truth behind nervous system regulation, and how simple, gentle practices can set you free. The conversation covers Liz’s personal story of trauma and healing, the science and magic of somatics, redefining "hustle" to serve the divine feminine, and how embracing your embodied self is key to business, joy, and abundance. Liz celebrates the launch of her new book, When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free, and shares transformative stories, practical tools, and the larger cultural reckoning around healing for women.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Liz’s Journey: From Trauma to Transformation

• Background & Trauma:

  • Liz recounts an abusive marriage in New York that led to daily panic attacks, fainting, and being gaslit by both her partner and the medical system [15:01–16:55].
  • “He seemed like my dream partner... and then right after we got married, something switched. It was like a Jekyll and Hyde situation.” — Liz Tenuto (15:07)
  • Trauma was normalized because of her upbringing around angry men and past sexual assault. "Being around a man that was so angry... was very normalized for me." — Liz Tenuto (15:49)

• Leaving & Reclaiming Agency:

  • Liz describes her covert process of creating an exit plan from her marriage, including saving money and securing a restraining order [17:14–19:45].
  • She found herself unsupported by family and slept in her car, but ultimately rebuilt a life rooted in self-care.

2. The Birth of "The Workout Witch" & Platform Growth

• Organic Growth Through Authenticity:

  • Initially posted one somatic exercise a day to TikTok for herself while struggling to get out of bed [21:05–22:54].
  • “I started posting to TikTok and it blew up. I had 10,000 followers in three weeks... I built a community first and I loved it.” — Liz Tenuto (21:26)
  • She ran daily practices for a year before selling a single course.

• Entrepreneurial Insights:

  • The importance of authentic service and building a community before monetization.
  • Both reflect on how accessible and unprecedented it is now for women to build businesses from their true selves [24:50–25:01].

3. Demystifying Somatic Healing

• What is "Somatic"?

  • Soma derives from Greek for "body"; somatic healing is “literally healing your body” through micro-movements that release tension, stress, and trauma [25:44–26:06].

• Why Trauma Gets Stuck in the Body:

  • The psoas muscle is the "muscular first responder" in fight-or-flight, contracting and storing unprocessed trauma unless manually released [26:33–28:21].
  • Gentle somatic exercises, rather than painful massage or forced stretching, work sequentially to soften and release.

• Counter-Culture of Gentleness:

  • Liz’s "workout" approach is radical because it centers ease and pleasure, not punishment.
  • Jess: “Women... have been conditioned that it has to be hard if we want to look good, feel good, make money, succeed... And your work is so counterculture to that.” (28:24–29:28)

4. Societal Pressures & Feminine Healing

• Historical Roots of Bodily Control:

  • Fitness and beauty trends in the 1950s–1990s emphasized shrinking and disciplining the female body, leading to internalized unworthiness and self-abuse [29:28–31:41].
  • Liz: “You know, I grew up as a ballet dancer... I was working my body really hard, like, so hard. And I had so much gray hair... I looked my worst.” (29:41–30:44)

• The Feminist Hustle Paradox:

  • Modern feminism, while empowering in ambition, often compels women to operate by masculine, relentless standards.
  • Somatic healing provides an antidote: a path to wholeness and pleasure.

5. Transformation Stories & How Somatics Works

• Book Stories:

  • Liz shares Joanna’s story: Survived an earthquake on her honeymoon, developed PTSD, and experienced worsened health conditions. Somatic work helped her reclaim baseline health and nervous system regulation [32:53–35:39].

• Neuroscience of Change:

  • Somatic exercises rewire the brain toward homeostasis, allowing new, safer patterns to become the norm, not just the exception.

• Daily Practices (Live Demo!):

  • Simple 1-Minute Exercise:

    • Placing a hand between the eyebrows and swiping upwards activates the vagus nerve, immediately calming the fight-or-flight system [37:03–38:21].
    • “That one minute exercise just kind of immediately relaxes the fight flight response.” — Liz Tenuto (37:59)

  • Easy Integration:

    • Five to ten minutes of gentle movement (e.g. in bed, before sleep) can be life-changing [38:56–39:10].
    • Walking >30 minutes also bilaterally stimulates and processes emotion, akin to EMDR [39:16–40:01].

6. The Frequency of Fun & Abundance

• Joy is a Key to Healing:

  • Both agree that fun, joy, and positive emotion are the "lubricant for abundance," and the most effective way to manifest and draw in prosperity [40:33–40:53].
  • “The gateway to magnetism, alignment, manifestation, money is having fun, experiencing joy. It’s the total unlock.” — Jess (40:38)

• Reclaiming Empowerment & Sisterhood:

  • Liz’s brand and book are not just personal healing; they are about women reclaiming agency, power, and joy at scale.

7. The Body as The Way

• “You’re not broken... It’s not your fault... And you also don’t have to stay there if you don’t want to.” — Liz Tenuto [43:20]
• Both host and guest affirm that true healing, especially for "feminine-centered women", is impossible without including the body, no matter how much therapy or mental rewiring you pursue [44:53–45:54].
• Naming trauma and bringing gentle awareness is transformative.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the root of hustle:

  • “Your nervous system is running your entire business, your entire life, not your mindset.” — Jess (05:46)

• On overcoming trauma:

  • “My dream is that people understand what modality to do when. And that somatics becomes as popular as yoga.” — Liz Tenuto (47:28)

• On somatic accessibility:

  • “Five, ten minutes a day... in bed. That’s it.” — Liz Tenuto (38:56–39:10)

• On the feminine way:

  • “We heal the world by healing ourselves. That’s how we heal the planet right now. And it starts from the inside out. And I really believe that the body is the way.” — Jess (43:43–43:54)

• On reclaiming power:

  • “My goal with my work is to have women take their power back so that they’re not held back in their life by past stress or trauma, no matter how much they’ve been through.” — Liz Tenuto (62:19)

• On joy and abundance:

  • “Joy is the lubricant for abundance.” — Jess (40:53)

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Important Timestamps

• Liz’s trauma & escape from marriage: 15:01–19:45
• Origin & explosion of The Workout Witch: 21:05–22:54
• Defining somatic healing & trauma in the body: 25:44–28:21
• Societal pressures on women: 29:28–31:41
• Joanna’s PTSD story: 32:53–35:39
• 1-minute nervous system exercise (demo): 37:03–38:21
• Integrating somatics simply: 38:56–39:10
• Joy and fun as healing frequency: 40:33–40:53
• Liz’s vision for somatics as a mainstream healing tool: 47:22–48:06
• Being “in your body”—how to tell: 49:24–51:06
• Quick-fire questions—books, spirituality, aliens: 54:25–61:42
• Liz’s definition of New Earth leadership: 61:50–63:32

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Final Takeaways

• True healing and prosperity for women require being “in your body,” not just your mind or spirit.
• Somatic practices are accessible, gentle, and transformative, requiring just minutes a day.
• There is immense power and possibility in joy, pleasure, and rejecting the hustle culture’s masculine paradigm.
• Every woman, regardless of past trauma, can access agency, healing, and abundance.
• The new paradigm of entrepreneurship and leadership is rooted in embodiment, love, and fun.

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Resources & Links

• When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free by Liz Tenuto (book launch featured)
• Follow Liz Tenuto (@theworkoutwitch) on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube
• Bonus resources in the episode show notes

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For listeners seeking a pathway out of burnout, trauma, or chronic stress—this episode’s message is clear: Somatic healing is a gentle, joyful revolution. The body truly is the way to freedom.

Transcript

[Jessica Zweig]

Welcome to the Spiritual Hustler podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Zweig, multi seven figure serial entrepreneur, best selling author and branding and business coach. And this is a show where we are redefining the word hustle. Reclaiming our true feminine nature of magnetism and putting down the self judgments and shame around loving to work and making a lot of money at it. On this show, you're going to learn how to stop hustling and start spiritually hustling by pressing play. You are now now part of a new movement of women who don't hustle for money. We hustle for meaning. We don't hustle from lack. We hustle for love. We don't hustle from survival. We hustle for humanity's thriving. We hustle toward healing the ancestral programming of fear and step into a new understanding of safety in the body to receive. This shift isn't going to only heal your life.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It's going to make you a whole lot richer too.

[Jessica Zweig]

This is the Spiritual Hustler Podcast.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Well, hello my beautiful spiritual hustlers and welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Jess. And as always, I am so excited

[Jessica Zweig]

to be with you here in this sacred space.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

This is a really special place and

[Jessica Zweig]

I know that you know that because you're a part of it and I feel you should own that. Like, yeah, I am in co creation with all of these beautiful women from

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

across the world, across every single continent that dial into the Spiritual Hustler podcast every single week, sometimes twice a week,

[Jessica Zweig]

to get the codes on what it means to be a spiritual Hustler today. A light worker leader of the new earth, rising in service of the divine feminine reclamation. Okay, that's what we're up to on this podcast. So if you're new, hi, welcome. If you're not new, welcome back. You already know this. On the show we break down what is in the title of the show. We talk about all things spirituality, we

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

talk all things business.

[Jessica Zweig]

And over the course of the last few years of my evolution, many of you know my story of climbing the entrepreneurial mountain, only to crash with depression and burnout and the inability to leave my house, total inflammation, to then only truly die in the country of Egypt on my spiritual pilgrimage that I went on in 2022, which I will never not talk about, because it really was a turning point where I died. Truly. I had a walk in experience, if you know what that means. Like that old version of me actually died and my higher self walked into my body. I had a massive cellular upgrade. My DNA crystallized. I channeled light language for 14 hours. I got sick.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I had all of these repressed memories come up.

[Jessica Zweig]

Felt like I was going through the shredder, actually, for a good four days at the tail end of my trip, only to come out on the other side, crystal clear. My very last day in the Great Pyramid in the king's chamber, which is the final chapter that I discuss in the book, the Light Work, my bestselling book on that trip to Egypt, where I came home after that trip and

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

everything reorganized to my highest timeline.

[Jessica Zweig]

And I'm sitting here today, as I sit here every day with an entirely new invitation for us to live in alignment with who we really are and what we and only we have come here to do. And that it is our responsibility, yes, to do that. But I believe it is an even bigger responsibility to enjoy it, to have fun. To live our most vibrant, badass, amazingly

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

high frequency, playful, pleasureful, blissful lives out

[Jessica Zweig]

while we change the world. Can I get a let's go?

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And yet, through all of that, all

[Jessica Zweig]

of that evolution, all of that awakening, all of that healing, all of that reorganizing, none of it works unless you are in your body. Yes, I know we all love the quantum, the aliens, the Pleiadians. At least what I talk about here on the show, the crystals, the ways to ascend through microdosing mushrooms and feng shui and akashic records and astrology. Like all of the goodies, we love that world, that dimension, traveling to different dimensions. At least I like to, through my crown chakra. But it wasn't until I recognized that I'm in a body. This is a true story, that I'm a cure in a body on this planet called Gaia, with a womb and a vagina and hips and. And a stomach and a throat and a beating heart and souls on the ground that touch the earth whenever I walk. Like getting into my body was the true thing that healed my life. Not even Egypt, not all the plant medicines, not my therapy, my coaching, and even selling my business and coming to alignment with my new business and the work that I'm blessed to do every day. All of that is amazing. But I was only truly able to

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

hold all of it, experience all of

[Jessica Zweig]

it, have my own back and take care of myself and honestly experience the bliss that I often talk about, the frequency of fun because I was in my body, relishing in the beauty of my own biology and the gift it is to be here on this planet versus always wanting and feeling and Needing to escape it.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Okay, you guys, here's the truth that most female entrepreneurs never hear. Your nervous system is running your entire business, your entire life, not your mindset. So you can have all the vision and all the strategy, but if your body is carrying chronic stress, inflammation or pain, everything is always going to feel harder than it needs to be. And this is where Microflow comes in. Now this brand, I swear by Microflow, it has changed my entire life. It's founded by root cause health expert Christy Nalt. And Microflow creates the cleanest micro dosing supplement on the market. Okay. It's 100 organic, third party lab tested, Reiki infused and intentionally formulated for women. Now, each blend is designed to support brain heart coherence, your nervous system regulation and neuroplasticity, which helps you at the end of the day shift out of survival and into sustainable growth. And here is what's actually happening. Microflow helps quiet the default mode network in your brain. It's the autopilot in your mind, while activating neurogenesis so that you can build new pathways wired for creativity, clarity and resilience. This is why thousands and thousands of people who've used Microflow has said that it is the one thing that has drastically, clearly, evidently changed their life. And now Microflow has introduced a brand new blend that I am also obsessed with called Rapid Relief, which is the next evolution of holistic pain support. Now, Rapid Relief works with your body, not against it. It supports your innate healing intelligence so that discomfort can finally resolve at the root without harsh downstream effects. Think of this as like your new one stop shop. Midol, Advil, Tylenol, but better because it's formulated with Microflow Magic micro doses, regeneratively farmed CBD and ancient botanicals. I've used it every single week since I've got it. It helps calm inflammation, soft intention and

[Jessica Zweig]

restore the flow back into your body.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Now, for female entrepreneurs navigating long days, nervous system overload or burnout recovery, you guys cannot not have Rapid Relief in your medicine cabinet. Start with the exude and surrender bundle and add Rapid Relief when your body needs extra support. And explore theta for deeper somatic and ceremonial work.

[Jessica Zweig]

If you are ready to increase your

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

capacity by upgrading the technology of your nervous system, then you've got to get down with Microflow. Get the whole bundle, get the whole stack. It will be the most life changing tool you could possibly ever, ever work with. Visit microflowhealing.com and use code JESSICA10 for $10 off of your order. That's microflowhealing.comand use code JESSICA10 for ten dollars off of your order.

[Jessica Zweig]

Okay, you guys, you know that I am all about the rituals, the energy, the practices that keep us in touch with the divine and our power, the things that we can add to our life that really, really remind us who we are. And one of my favorite rituals pretty much every morning, true story. Is putting on my Malkari jewelry. Okay? Because honestly, these pieces are not just jewelry. They are activated sacred talismans that honestly help me lead with a consciousness as a confident woman in my business and my life. They are seriously activations, you guys. When you put them on, not only are they gorgeous and versatile and they stack. And there's so many options to choose from, they are spiritual activations. And that's really because the founder of Malkari is my best friend and stylist, Tali Kogan, who is a visionary woman in the world of fashion who lives by the belief that you can have anything in life that you want as long as you dress for it. And I am here to preach from the mountaintops that that is true. And so when I wear her pieces, I feel freaking unstoppable. Yes, they're edgy and high fashion. They'll take your cutest little outfit or your T shirt and jeans to absolutely new heights. But they're also deeply spiritual. Each necklace, each ring, each bracelet is a code. And like the lion of Malkari roaring through you, it reminds you that you are already the queen of your own business in your life. When you put them on, you're going to feel a difference. And if you're curious, which I know you are, to up your style game and your frequency, check the link in the show notes and use the code JESSICA15 for 15% off your order. Because it's not often that accessories feel like medicine. And Locari is feminine power you can wear.

And I, I set this context today because I have a really special guest for you. I'm bringing on Liz Tenuto today. She's widely known as the workout Witch. She is, I would say, leading expert in the somatic space, but I honestly think she's a disruptor, if not the biggest disruptor in the world of somatics. She has more than 240,000 students in her world and close to 5 million social media followers across platforms. She is absolutely transforming the way that this modern generation is finally dealing with trauma. Liz has been featured in USA Today, the BBC News, Daily Mail, Harper's Bazaar, New York Weekly. She's prolific. And if you're not following her on Instagram. You really should tick tock YouTube. She's in all the places. She has not only scaled her business in such an incredible time and she'll talk about that today and how she started this insanely successful platform, but she has democratized healing. She's made it accessible for pretty much everyone. And I am thrilled to share that she is launching her book today, her brand new debut book, when the Body speaks how somatic healing sets you free. Liz is a real one. I had such an incredible time dropping in with her. She's not just a real one because she holds a degree in psychology and is certified in Pilates and reiki and has 15 years of teaching experience bridging science and movement. She's a real one because she's a sister. You know what I'm saying? She's a true sister. As you all know, I like to capitalize that word sister because it's holy and not everybody is a sister. I'm just going to say that not every woman is a sister who is truly a champion of for other women to shine, to succeed, to heal, is genuinely invested in other women rising. And I took away so much from my conversation with her today and I know you are going to as well, but I would say that that was one of my biggest takeaways. Like you can spot a real one real quick, if you know what I mean. And I just was so grateful that she came in with her full heart, her full authenticity and her full devotion to what she's here to do with her platform, the Workout Witch. And this book, which I'm going to leave a link to in the show notes so everyone can go buy it. It's absolutely amazing. She gets really, really real. Today she's going to share her story of trauma and how she healed herself through somatics. Because I always say, as you know, if we're going to be a great teacher, we have to remain a student. And Liz has really taken that at scale in service of everyone who reaches her platform. And this episode today is in such service to you, the sista who is listening. So without further ado, here is my amazing conversation with the incredible workout witch, Liz Tenuto.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Liz, sister, I'm so happy you're here. Thank you for coming on my show.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you so much for having me. Jessica.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I was saying I followed your work, followed your incredible content courses. Like was such a fan. And then we met in Lori's house in California a few months ago and I was like not surprised actually to meet this workout Witch in person who's so embodied, who's so in her heart, who's, like, grounding just to be with. I really want to peel behind layers today because the woman that I met, the woman that is so celebrated, wherever she shows up, has worked really hard to become her. And we're going to talk a lot about your book today. I'm so excited for you. But before we go forward, I would love to go back, because your life for a long time did not look what it looks like today. So can we go back to. You were living in New York and in a very different type of life, very different relationship, coming from an upbringing rooted in a lot of trauma. Can we start there? Wherever that it feels comfortable to create a through line to today?

[Liz Tenuto]

Absolutely. I was in New York in my early 30s. I had moved there from California and newly married. And prior to getting married, my relationship was, like, beautiful. He seemed like my dream partner. And then right after we got married, like, something switched. It was like a Jekyll and Hyde situation. And the marriage itself was just awful. And the abuse crept in, like, insidiously and incrementally, and it just got worse and worse and worse. And I found myself about a year into the marriage in New York, like, having panic attacks every day, fainting pretty regularly. And I went to the doctor, and the doctor was like, you're fine. Just make sure you're drinking water. You know? And I already had a somatic training and background at that time, and for some reason, I still was having a really hard time believing what was going on for me, because the relationship prior to the marriage was so beautiful and lovely, and I had a really hard time wrapping my head around that. But also, I have this background with my family, with a lot of men in my family, especially my extended family, having, like, rage issues. And I have a background with sa sexual assault. And so I think, like, being around a man that was so angry in my marriage was very normalized for me from my childhood. And I kept thinking, like, I can make this better. Oh, this can get better. Until one day I realized, like, it can't, and I just have to leave. Wow.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And he was, from what I've read, financially abusive as well. And so he controlled a lot of the finances. You didn't have any agency and sovereignty. So how did you leave? What was that process like?

[Liz Tenuto]

I started taking baths every day, and that is where I created my exit plan. Bath in the bath. I love it. I had this little bath tray that I had purchased, and I had my phone and I was creating an exit plan because he was also tracking my. He had a remote access device installed on my computer, so he was tracking all of my tech as well. And I started saving, like, you know, getting, like, $20 cash back at the grocery store. And I opened up a separate account, and I was just kind of, like, squirreling away money as often as I could. And the day I left, I didn't have as much money as I wanted to in that account. But, like, he got quite violent that day in the house. And it was at a point where I was like, I feel like something bad is going to happen to me if I don't leave today. He left, and then I left that day, and I didn't have his. My exit plan wasn't complete, but I still left.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

But you made it happen.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And did you go straight to California or did you. You just flew across the country?

[Liz Tenuto]

I didn't. So I actually kicked him out of the house and was able to change the locks because I had filed for. I already, like, had done a police report on him for violence, and then I had filed a restraining order, and the judge granted it. And I lived in an apartment building, so they changed the locks once I got the restraining order. And I luckily already had all of that in place by that day. So when I left that day, I slept in my car for a couple nights, and I was getting all of the locks changed and getting everything situated. When I went back to my apartment, though, I just, like, really didn't feel safe. And he vandalized my car in the garage, and I was just like, I have to get out of here. Like, I can't physically be here anymore. But what was so hard for me was I had reached out to my parents, and they weren't as supportive as I thought, as I was hoping. And my brother was on this camping trip, and he had no cell service that weekend, so I. It was very hard for me in those initial moments, but I did end up going down, staying with my parents. And then I realized that I was kind of just in, like, the same pattern that they were in. So eventually I stayed. Like, a couple weeks later, I shifted to my aunt and uncle's house.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Wow.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I really believe that our. You know, you've heard that term, like, our mess becomes our message, you know, and thank you for sharing all of that. I mean, I see you share it so beautifully in your social media, and it's. I'm knowing your book. It's such a gift to be honest and vulnerable to anyone who's ever been in that position before. I've been in that position before, by the way.

[Liz Tenuto]

I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

To show the possibilities of what's come out on the other side and to see you today and like what you have created that is so clearly of service and is now a massive brand in the market. Came from a mess.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. You know, it really came from a mess.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah. And I give you major props for what you how you alchemize that to be of such service to so many people. So I want to talk about the book, but I. The book is really an artifact, like a birthing of what you've created with the workout witch and this beautiful message you have on somatics and nervous system healing. So if you can talk me through the impetus of the brand and the business and how that began, just like entrepreneur to entrepreneur, I'd love to know how that whole thing started.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. I had been teaching Pilates and somatics for 15 years and during COVID I wasn't able to teach anymore. I always taught one on one lessons. I also taught group classes. And when I couldn't teach anymore, I started to get really sad. And this was at the same time time when I realized I had to leave my marriage. And I got so sad that I couldn't really get out of bed. And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna record myself doing one somatic exercise a day from bed or on the floor, wherever I have enough energy to do it, and I'm gonna post it to TikTok. I had zero followers on TikTok. I was like, no one will see this. This is gonna be like my visual diary for myself to kind of track my own progress. And I started posting to TikTok and it blew up. Like I had 10,000 followers in three weeks. Which was very good for my confidence and my self esteem in that phase because I was still in the marriage actually. But then I posted for a year before I started selling courses or doing anything online in terms of like making money online. I built a community first and I loved it. Like, I didn't realize. I thought it was going to be very niche at first. And then I didn't realize, like, oh, so many people can't have phases where they can't get out of bed or so many people feel constantly overwhelmed or anxious all the time. And I realized how many people I could help with the exercises. So that's when I started to. When the gyms opened, I like went back to teaching one on one and then during that time, I started creating courses and put them out a year after I started posting.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I love that so much. For so many people who are listening, who. I think it's so easy to see, like, these big online businesses and aspire to. To have that and feel like it's. You have to engineer it in a specific way or there's certain steps you need to take. And I always love hearing stories like yours where it's just so rooted in being yourself, doing something that makes you happy. I love social media because it. Because it connects me to people and I know that I'm helping people. And then you build an authentic community that has been wanting more, and you organically built it from there. And now look at you.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. Yeah. I never imagined this. Really, for me. No, never. I mean, I definitely had fantasies about being, like, a Lux. A luxurious, wealthy lady who doesn't. As a child, like. Like from age 5, my. I would always pick the fanciest items at the store or want to order the most expensive thing on the menu. And mom was like, oh, my gosh, I'm a. I'm a Taurus.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Amazing.

[Liz Tenuto]

I never imagined myself kind of achieving that through being an entrepreneur at all.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Wow. Yeah. Did you. So you never expected your audience to get as massive as it has?

[Liz Tenuto]

No, not at. I'm. I'm still, like, kind of in, like, a pinch me phase with it.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I don't think we should ever leave that phase, by the way. Like, whenever we surpass that, that's when someone needs to, like, kind of put. Help us keep our feet on the ground. I think that's an actual beautiful place to remain, to just never lose the plot and the gratitude of, like, what a gift it is to get to run a business. Call it. Call it your name or call what you want and, like, serve people from all over the world.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And build a beautiful life around that. Like, we should never not pinch ourselves from that.

[Jessica Zweig]

Yeah.

[Liz Tenuto]

You know, it's so cool.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah, it's so cool. I say this all the time. It's like the most exciting time to be alive right now.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So many. It's a wild time to be alive, but it's an amazing time to be alive.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. Your ability to put yourself out there and create something on your own is unprecedented right now.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Unprecedented. Yeah. So you've built this amazing brand, and not only the community, but you've really established yourself as a leading voice in the world of somatics. And the word somatic. I just want to crack down into this word because it's used a lot. The nervous system has become trendy. Like, everyone is talking about this new way of healing, and I don't think that everyone fully understands what that really looks like, what that means, where it comes from. And so let's just start with the word somatic healing. And if you can just define, you know, in your experience and embodiment work, what people really need to know about that word and how they can work with it.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. Soma is the Greek word for body. Somatic healing is literally healing your body. I teach somatic exercises, which are these tiny micro movements that you can do in bed or on the floor that release tension and stress and trauma out of your body, and then they also regulate your nervous system.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Trauma is stored in the body. Actually, you know, I got into your work through your hip course, and we hear, like, it's also become, like, a joke. Like, I try and, like, trauma is stored in your hips. It's not a joke. It's real.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So let's kind of go back and if you can define. When we have a traumatic event, it goes into our system, it stays there, it gets stuck there. From a biological perspective, can you explain why that is?

[Liz Tenuto]

Absolutely. The reason why it tends to get stored in your hips is because you have a muscle called the psoas muscle, which is your muscular first responder when you experience fight or flight. It's a really large, deep muscle that connects your upper body to your lower body. It starts behind your rib cage, wraps around the front, and then it connects to your lower trochanter, which is at the bottom of your pelvis. And what's interesting about that muscle is it contracts during fight or flight to literally help you fight or flee the situation, but then it stays contracted until you manually release it. So a lot of people. And that's how it kind of the trauma gets stored in the body is this muscular contraction. And then over time, as you continue to experience stress or if you haven't processed your trauma, you'll have a bunch of emotional reactions and cognitive difficulties. And that starts to translate and have, like, this domino effect on your physical, mental, and emotional health. And you start to experience, like, a baseline of more cortisol in the body as well. So a lot of people will try to release their psoas muscle by going to a massage therapist, which is very painful. And we have these natural ways that we can release it without being in a ton of pain that are much more gentle. And that's what I teach in the hips course, is first we release Other muscle tension. And then we go into the psoas around, like, day 18, day 20, so that we're kind of incrementally leading up to that release.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah, that's one of the things I

[Jessica Zweig]

really appreciate about your work.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You're called the workout witch, right?

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So I heard about you in the peripheral ether, and I was like, oh, workouts? Like, she's gonna be a fitness babe. And everything that you teach is all around gentleness and ease. Like, it's not about burning calories and getting fit. It's about using the body as a vehicle to heal from the inside out and to come into right relationship with your body and to understand the magic of it, you know, not. Not how it needs to look. And I think that's a reason why our work intertwines so much in. In the sense that women have been. I don't want to speak too generally, but have been conditioned that it has to be hard if we want to look good, feel good, make money, succeed, grow in any capacity, that there has to be some sort of struggle behind it. And your work is. And I think it's why it's really struck a chord, is so counterculture to that. And so when it comes to this collective belief, women especially, that we have to, like, kill ourselves, where do you think that comes from?

[Liz Tenuto]

There were a lot of movement, fitness movements in the 50s and 60s that were just about, like, being really slim and tiny. Yeah. And Jane Fonda was the 80s.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

The 80s.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. And so, you know, I mean, historically, like, a woman's body, back in, like, Victorian times, you could be round and curvy, and that was, like, the most beautiful thing. And then in the USA, the 1950s was, like, the time when it really started. Fitness started to get very commoditized for women, and there were, like, you know, studios that you would go and, like, measure your waist, and it got very focused on diminishing yourself and being tiny and, like, discipline and hard work as, like, visible in the body as how small you are. But it's just, like, so unhealthy. And I think, you know, then the 80s and the early 90s was, like, the no pain, no gain philosophy in fitness with the body. And I grew up as a ballet dancer. And when I was in my early 20s and when I was really heavy doing ballet, I was working my body really hard, like, so hard. And I had so much gray hair.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Really?

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah, yeah. Like, I looked my worst. I was tiny, but I looked my worst. And I had, like, really bad bags under my Eyes. And I. I was working so hard, but I didn't look or feel very good. And Somatics is really what helped me unlearn all of that. I actually cried in the bathroom after my first class because my body had never felt so good. It was like warm and tingling afterwards. And I was like, what is this? Like, I had never experienced anything like that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You know what's coming to me as you're sharing that, Liz? It's like from a physical perspective, like the 50s, the 60s, the, you know, the 80s. No pain, no gain. Then there was like the 90s, heroin chic with Kate Moss. Like, from a external, outer perspective. The standards for women have always been to shrink to. It's unrealistic to be hard on ourselves in, like, in a near abusive way.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

But then with the rise of, like, the feminist movement from an ambition perspective, we've been asked to operate like men.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You know what I mean?

[Liz Tenuto]

Like, totally.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It's been coming at us from all of these different angles, like, look a certain way, be a certain way, work a certain way, act a certain way. And I think that's why this conversation around the nervous system and somatics and burnout is become so prevalent and visible, because we're at an inflection point where we're all kind of waking up and we're saying, like, no, actually, there's a gentler, more loving, easeful, feminine way to do this thing called life. And I. I know that my audience is gonna love your book, the Body Speaks. It's right here. It's so beautiful.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I'm so excited for you.

[Jessica Zweig]

You.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You talk about some real stories in the book. You brought in some other women besides you that have gone through this work. And if there's a story of a woman that you can plug out from the book, that could be an opening for the woman listening, like, what's possible, like, where she began and where she is now by working with Somatics. Could you share one of those stories from the book?

[Liz Tenuto]

The first one that comes to mind is a woman named Joanna who was on her honeymoon and experienced an earthquake. And it was a really bad earthquake. And her and her husband thought that they were going to be celebrating and, you know, having this beautiful trip. And they were, like, literally caught in rubble from the earthquake. And it was very scary. She developed ptsd, and she already had some other health conditions, like endometriosis. But after that incident, it. The flare ups got much worse. Her health got much worse. And when you have ptsd, you're like, very hypervigilant. It's very hard to function normally. PTSD becomes almost like the driver of your life. Those symptoms become the driver of your life, and you can't really function the way you used to until you heal from ptsd, which is absolutely possible. And her and I really connected because she had a lot of the health condition flare ups, which I experienced after I went through trauma as well, where I'm like, okay, wow, now my thyroid is out of balance and now I don't sleep. And then after, you know, after years of that, it was like, okay, now I have chronic pain. And somatics really helped her reduce the symptoms of her chronic health conditions. So she no longer has the same level of pelvic pain from her endometriosis now. And if she ever does, she has these exercises that she can lean on to immediately reduce the pain. And they also really helped in terms of the nervous system. What it is, is it's like a communication highway between your brain and your body. And when we say it's dysregulated, it's just a fancy way of saying that we're in fight, flight, or freeze physiologically. And when you experience that, you also get all of these, like, physical symptoms that flare up and you start to have brain fog, and you start to either get really irritable or you kind of emotionally feel numb. One of the two. And so what the exercises do is they bring you back to your baseline. So you're. When you're doing the exercises, you're practicing homeostasis, and you're remembering what that feels like. And the more you practice that, the more new neural pathways you create, which are just like new patterns. And it's like lifting weights. Like, the more you do it, the stronger those neural pathways become. And then your homeostasis starts to become your baseline instead of PTSD reactions or instead of chronic pain symptoms.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Wow. I mean, the world of somatics within PTSD is, like, groundbreaking. And it's just I'm tracking so many moments in my life and the people that I know, like, whether it's something as extreme as an earthquake on your honeymoon or going through a breakup or going. For me, it was going broke at, like, 33. Like, I had to map it. By the time I was 40 and I was so burnt out and diagnosed with depression, I couldn't leave my bed. It was all tied to the trauma I had from true scarcity. And I never really felt like I was in abundance, even though I was making tons of money at the Time. I was always running away from scarcity. And it wasn't until I connected that dot that I was really able to heal. I think we experience micro traumas on a daily basis.

[Liz Tenuto]

I do too.

[Jessica Zweig]

Right.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Like the amount of hits that our nervous system gets, you know, where we don't feel resilient. And so is there practices or tools? Because I think every single person needs to read your book and every single

[Jessica Zweig]

person needs this work.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

We've all experienced trauma with a capital T. But for the everyday woman that's listening who just has this like low hum of anxiety, where. Where does she start?

[Liz Tenuto]

Should we do an exercise together?

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Okay.

[Liz Tenuto]

We can stay, sit seated. We'll just uncross our legs. And then we'll take our right hand and you're gonna place it in between your eyebrows. You wanna use medium to firm pressure. And you're gonna swipe up and then remove your finger. And we're just gonna repeat that action several times.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Wow.

[Jessica Zweig]

Already feel a shift. Yeah.

[Liz Tenuto]

And as we're doing this, if your arm gets tired at any point, feel free to just pause, rest your arm and then resume. We'll keep this going for about a minute. You can see how soft in the hand on your leg. Yeah. How relaxed can your belly be? How unclenched can your jaw be? Wow. Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Let's do a couple more.

[Liz Tenuto]

And whenever you're ready, we'll bring that to a pause.

[Jessica Zweig]

That's good.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. So good. And that's a quick one minute exercise. So that activates one of your cranial nerves that connects to your brain stem. And your brainstem is largely responsible for your fight and flight response. So that one minute exercise just kind of immediately relaxes the fight flight response.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That's when you were like, immediately started doing it. Right. And I felt like an instant sensation.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

But then. And you were watching me, I think because my eyes were closed. You're like, relax your jaw. Shit, my jaw is tight. My hand is not like.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

The micro tension in your body is constant.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So does somebody need to do, like, what is the daily regimen, if you will? Part of me wants to ask what you do, but I feel like you live well, maybe it's simpler than I think. But what. How does somebody really make this a part of their lifestyle?

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. Like five to ten minutes a day.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Five, ten minutes a day?

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. In bed. I do them. I do them right when I wake up or right before I go to bed, depending on what my day looks like.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That's amazing. But that's it.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It's so Simple.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Do you incorporate any other types of movement during the day? Like, do you still do Pilates and, like, move your body in that way?

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah, I love movement. Like, it's always been my thing since I was a child. I was a dancer. My mom was a jazzercise teacher. So I love Pilates still. I do Pilates for strength training like three times a week. I take my dog on a walk every day. And I love walking. And what's interesting with walking too, is if you go for longer than 30 minutes, you get bilateral stimulation, which is the same kind of process that happens in EMDR therapy. And so it's great for emotional processing and stress release. So that's another thing. If, you know, you can do this one minute exercise, you can take a walk. Those are two really easy, accessible things that you can do anytime. And then I like to play pickleball, too.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It's having a moment. It's all the rage. It's. I haven't gotten into it. I don't see. I'm not very athletic, so I have a little bit of intimidation around it. But I. I know anyone can do it.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. It's like tennis light.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yes.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. I've never played a sport really before, so I was also quite intimidated. I have a dance background. I was worried that I'd have horrible hand eye coordination. And it's so fun.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Fun. That's the. That's my word for the year.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Fun is the highest frequency.

[Liz Tenuto]

It's so nice. And abundance comes to you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That's right.

[Liz Tenuto]

So much faster when you're having fun.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

This is what I preach every day on this fucking podcast. Like the gateway to magnetism. Alignment, manifestation. Money is having fun, experiencing joy. It's the total unlock. It's like I read in a book years ago, it changed my life. Said, joy is the lubricant for abundance.

[Liz Tenuto]

I love that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Right. Like, our job is to have fun on this planet.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

We totally miss the plot.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. We get so serious.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

We do. We get so fucking serious. We think it has to be so hard. Yeah. And it doesn't. And the truth is, like, this is why I love the work that you do. And I really hope I stand in my work. And I know that everyone listening is here because they've been following my journey, but, you know, it's fucked up to

[Jessica Zweig]

be here on this planet.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

This human life is precious and wild at the same time. And we come from traumatic experiences. Like was said earlier, there's not a person on the planet that hasn't experienced trauma. You know, I think we're of a generation, you and me, that have access to tools that our parents didn't have. Totally. And their parents certainly didn't have. Yes, they're there. You know what I mean? It's been inherited. But now we live in this time of like, choice and options and education and platforms like yours and platforms like mine, that people can learn a new way. And I think it's all to come back into homeostasis at the, you know, bare minimum.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And then joy grows from there.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And when we unlock that, so much possibility happened.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You fell in love with sharing those TikTok videos.

[Liz Tenuto]

I did.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Right. There was joy in that.

[Liz Tenuto]

That was so much fun. I loved making them every day. It was this bright spot. Even at the very beginning. It was.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

In some of your darkest times.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yep. In some of my darkest times, I would. It was so funny. I was teaching these relaxation videos and I was like putting Meg the stallion on them and I'm just in bed, like, Exactly. And it was so fun. And now I feel like a big part of my business too is like helping women reclaim their power. And I love to listen to like boss bitch music.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yes.

[Liz Tenuto]

So especially when you're working out. It's so fun.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah, it's so fun. This book, I'm so excited for you. Like, we were talking earlier before we started recording. Like, launching a book is a lot.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

But it is actually, I think, such a joyful experience because you work so hard on it becomes your baby. You get to launch it into the world. You get to touch so many new people. A book changes lives. Like, I still get messages years later from people. Like, your books changed my, like, no better feeling when someone reads this book, like, woman, you know, all the way through, she makes it to the end. What is the one thing that you want her to know or remember?

[Liz Tenuto]

You're not broken. If you feel stuck or if you're having physical flare ups or you have anxiety or depression, it's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. And you also don't have to stay there if you don't want to.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah. That's beautiful.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That is a legacy leaving message.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You know, I really think we heal

[Jessica Zweig]

the world by healing ourselves.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes. A thousand percent.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That's how we heal the planet right now. And it starts from the inside out. And I really believe that the body. The body is the way.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. It's often the missing link for people because we think, okay, go to therapy. And I love therapy. Big fan. Love emdr, Big fan. But for me, you know, movement and somatic healing was a big missing link and it has been for my students as well.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah, I do think that that's an important point because therapy, emdr, talk therapy, it gets you far and it's a necessary tool. But it wasn't until I realized, and I know that so many women feel the same, and certain women are new to it, which is why they're going to read your book. The mind body connection isn't in traditional talk therapy for a lot of therapists. And it. It typically isn't wholly fully possible to heal your life unless you incorporate the body. Yeah, it all lives in the body.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. It's a. It's especially for, like, feminine centered women. It's so important.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Well, we're all such empaths.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And we're also sensitive. And going back to what we were talking about when it came to how we've come up over these last few decades, it wasn't normal or common or celebrated to talk about what we were going through. And so we internalized it, we stuffed it down. And these things that happened to us, from our childhood to our couple years ago on a honeymoon, are, like, still with us. And I think that the gift is the work, but I also think it's an opportunity to name something. Right. That we couldn't maybe name before. We brought awareness to it. Like, this is such a random story, but it's not. I'm going to talk about my husband for a second. So we went through a horrible ice storm in Nashville two months ago. Unprecedented, categorical, hadn't happened in 35 years. Ice Storm where the whole city's power went out. Like, the trees got thick, inches of ice, tore down power lines. Like, we were without power for seven days. We were up in the hills, like, in the woods on a private road. Anyway, I was gone. I was on a retreat in Sedona the whole time. So he was by himself.

[Liz Tenuto]

Oh, my gosh.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

With our two dogs. And was stuck in the house for 48 hours with no power. And our animals. Anyway, long story short, it all. It's behind us now. Yeah.

[Liz Tenuto]

That's scary.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It was traumatic.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And he was, like, miserable for like a month and a half after. He was in the worst mood. He was so, like, snappy, irritable, high stress. And we had a big fight about it because I was like, honey, I love you, but, like, I can't breathe around you. This is not okay. And I kind of projected that it had something to do from like, the house build, like, months ago. Like, whatever it was from last year. And I was so proud of him. He's like, jess, it was the storm. I haven't been the same since.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah, it changes you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It changes you.

[Liz Tenuto]

It changes you. And you have these reactions that you can't control.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Can't control because you have nowhere. It goes into your system and then it's sort of running the whole show, which is. Why do it. I mean, that exercise you just did with me, the simplest things to go on your website, to go on your Instagram. And now there's this beautiful book where we can just access all of these tools that take five to ten minutes a day to clear those micro and macro traumas.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

If everyone did this, I mean, what. What world do you see, Liz? Oh, my gosh.

[Liz Tenuto]

That's my dream. And not from a perspective of, like, wealth hoarding at all. It's really that, you know, I did. I did yoga for, like, 10 years. And one of my most controversial opinions is that, like, yoga isn't the best for trauma healing to start with. And I'm not anti yoga at all. It's just like, if you're healing from stress and trauma, it's just not the best place to start. And so my dream is that people understand, like, what modality to do when. And that somatics becomes as popular as yoga. That's my dream.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I think you're making that dream a reality, babe.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I really do.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

There's a reason that you've hit so hard.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You've given new language to it, but it's becoming more truly mainstream. I. I can't tell you how many conversations I have with my friends who are on the path of personal growth, spirituality, doing the healing work, and everything's about the body.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Like, it has to be.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah, Yeah. I think we had this phase of, like, mindset and meditation and all of that is great. So I'm not saying to not do those things, but then I think now the body people are like, oh, yeah, I have a body. And. And, you know, my emotions live there and my thoughts live there.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And as well, this actually reminds me I was. Because I told you about my burnout story, and I worked with a spiritual coach who was very, very in tune with the nervous system. And that word, that term, the nervous system, this was introduced to me at 40. I'm 44, so four years ago, most of my life, I had no connection, no understanding. And I remember her asking me, do you think you're in your body. And I had no idea what that meant. So I just want to pose that question to you. Like, I can hear the woman listening right now. Like, am I in my body? How does one know?

[Liz Tenuto]

So when I say things like, can you feel your feet on the floor? Or can you feel your hips sinking heavier into the chair? Your brain immediately tells your body to do that, and you can just feel it and you can connect to it right away, which is so cool. Your. Your brain to body connection is really strong, and the body heals really quickly, which is also really fun. But most people, I guess I could say that you aren't really in your body. I'll give you a couple examples. If you're, like, working and you decide to push past hunger or to hold your pee, because you're just like, I just gotta get this, like, thing done right. So your body's giving you really clear signals, I'm hungry. I need to go to the bathroom. And you're mentally overriding that. If you have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, even after you've slept well, it's probably a sign you're not in your body. If you come home after work or just after finishing all your tasks for the day, and you sit on the couch for four hours, and you just, like, crash out consistently, like, several times a week. I'm so down for that. Once a week? Yeah, totally. That's cute. Once a week, Twice a week, sure. You know, but, like, if you do that consistently more than three times a week, you're probably disconnected from your body. If you can't cry or have a hard time expressing emotion, you're probably not in your body. I have a question for you. Okay. So do you think that people disconnect from their spirituality after they go through stress or trauma?

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That's a be. That's a really good question. I think the reason why people turn off in the first place is because they're disconnected from their spiritual self. I think it's because we get too dense. Not in the body, but in this dimension, that the third dimension, which is really rooted in polarity, like dualistic, good, bad, love, fear. And we, because of the way this world is constructed and everything that we're perceiving and taking in, plus our trauma and conditioning, we have a tendency to lean into fear and forget the truth of limitless possibilities, like the real dimension. And so that's how I interpret it. It's like we get stuck there because we forget that we are whole, that we are safe, that we Are love that we are one, then that's how I define the spiritual connection, is that knowing. And when we lose that, that's when

[Jessica Zweig]

we suffer the most.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah. And it's hard, I think, to get back to vitality, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, without remembering that as part of that process.

[Liz Tenuto]

I love that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Thank you for that question.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. I love that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Do you see what I'm saying?

[Liz Tenuto]

I see what you're saying. Yeah. When I was going through my hardest times, I felt very disconnected from my spirituality. Like just. It just wasn't there anymore. It was all dark. Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah. And you know, we have to often go through the dark to find the light.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And. And I think that there's always gold in that. To bring it full circle to the beginning of our conversation. Like, thank you for sharing some of the darkest parts of your life because it's important to your medicine.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You found your light there. Right? Like, it didn't. You didn't know that at the time.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It didn't feel like that at the time.

[Liz Tenuto]

Nope. Definitely not.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Right. Like it's hell.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

But when you commit to the journey to like, like take the risk, to take care of yourself, to choose your own path, there's always an. An other side to it. And if you really embrace the lessons, look how much good you can do with it. Yeah. To change the world.

[Liz Tenuto]

Totally.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Write a book.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes. You know. Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I'm so passionate about weeding the spiritual divinity and light that we are into our work today. They're not mutually exclusive.

[Liz Tenuto]

They're.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

What? We're light beings. We're spiritual beings having a human experience. And the more we remember that, I think the more joy we actually have. More freedom we have.

[Liz Tenuto]

I love that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah, babe. I love you.

[Liz Tenuto]

I love you too.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You're amazing.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You're too. I am so happy you came on my show. I could talk to you forever.

[Liz Tenuto]

Me too.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

We'll have to do a part two. We'll have to hang out more. I remember meeting you in that at that event, and I was. I felt such a heart to heart with you.

[Liz Tenuto]

I did too.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah. And you're very regulating to be with, by the way.

[Liz Tenuto]

Likewise. Thank you.

[Jessica Zweig]

Like, it's.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It wasn't just this. It's just being in your presence is so calming and so safe and activating in like the heart in the best way.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you so much.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You're welcome. Babe, I have just a few quick fire questions for you.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yes. Let's do it.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Okay, great.

[Liz Tenuto]

So you're like getting ready, sitting with I know.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I always get nervous with the quick fires, too. I'm like. Cause I'm not a quick fire kind of person. I'm very verbose.

[Liz Tenuto]

But we'll do our best.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So this is. I would ask everybody. So do you have a favorite spiritual book besides your own book that's influenced your life?

[Liz Tenuto]

I don't know if this is a spiritual book, but I read Glennon Doyle Untamed, and I had a very spiritual experience with that book.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Retweet. I read that book, too. That. That was a spiritual experience, reading that book. That book was brilliant.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And it broke and hit for a reason.

[Liz Tenuto]

When I was starting with Somatics, I read the Dao de Ching, and that kind of, like, blew my mind to ease and, like, letting things be and not controlling everything. That was a big moment for me as well.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You know what I just got for you? Like, I just saw it in my quantum dashboard. I'm going to ask somebody that question

[Jessica Zweig]

in a year or two from now,

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

and I'm like, what's your favorite book?

[Jessica Zweig]

And they're going to say, when the body speaks.

[Liz Tenuto]

Oh, I would love that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

From my lips to the goddess's ears. Seriously, do you work with any. I don't know how spiritual you. What your practice looks like, but is there a particular goddess or archetype or deity or angel that you feel connected to?

[Liz Tenuto]

My teacher Augusta, who is the ballet teacher who brought me into Somatics. She, like, noticed I was very dissociated in ballet class and was like, come to my Somatics class. I talk to her often, and I just can sometimes feel her presence around me. She was almost like a second mom for me, and she mentored me for six years when I initially started teaching. Yeah. So I would say for me, it's really more like ancestors. Yeah. Because I do that with my mom's mom. My grandma, and my mom just passed away as well. And so all of those women, I just feel like they're with me all the time.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

They are.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah, they are.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I unfortunately still have both of my parents, and I fortunately haven't had a lot of loss and death in my life as of now. Fortunate, like, I count my blessings all the time. I'm like, everyone I love is alive. But I. I did lose my animal. I lost my dog a year and a half ago.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I know this isn't the question, but like I told you, we're both. That grief portal taught me so much about the other side, like, dissolved dimension, and that love does come in many forms.

[Jessica Zweig]

And they don't ever leave.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Like animals. People like that connection. You can still have a relationship, and in many ways a deeper relationship. It's just in a different form.

[Liz Tenuto]

You have to kind of change the form of it, and then you can still access it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Thank you for sharing that.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah, thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Okay, this is a fun one. Do you believe in aliens? Yes or no?

[Liz Tenuto]

Oh, I mean, that would be so fun. I know, right? That would be so fun.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

They're friendly aliens. But I. Yes, continue. Why do you say that? Why? Why fun?

[Liz Tenuto]

I mean, I hope we're not the only people and the only planet that has life. Like, how fun would that be? Weirdly, my uncle is, like, the leading academic on Star Trek.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

No way. Awesome.

[Liz Tenuto]

His name is John Tenuto.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

I should get him on my podcast.

[Liz Tenuto]

And so I've been around, like, a lot of sci fi in my life. My brother's also really into sci fi, so part of me is, like, slightly scared of aliens because of that. But I also think, how wonderful and cool would that be? Like, I don't want us to be the only.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Well, it's scientifically impossible that we're not. That we are, you know.

[Jessica Zweig]

Couple thoughts on that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So I believe, like, as above, so below.

[Jessica Zweig]

Right?

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And there are benevolent beings. And there are benevolent beings, just like there are in this dimension. Like that. To me, that's how I. How I see it. So aliens aren't all things. And I actually once heard that they don't. That's not refer to them as aliens, like, because that word can have a negative connotation. Right? Like, aliens in my country, whatever. Extraterrestrials is really what they are. But all that to say, there's this scientist that I once saw speak. I don't know if you've ever heard of him. His name is Nassim Harameen. He's pretty prolific. He's like, reminds me of, like, the Greg Bradens of the world. Like, a really phenomenal quantum scientist. And I saw him speak years ago, and it was one of those, like, pivotal. You know, go to so many conferences and you see speakers and, like, they rev you up for a moment and then you never remember them. This guy changed my life, and he was talking about. And he showed all of the science behind it in his presentation that we live in an infinite universe. Infinite. We're one galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, amongst trillions and trillions of infinite galaxies. And when you look up, let's just take our Milky Way galaxy as a parcel as an example, and you stare up at the full night sky and it's completely lit up like the. Imagine the whole Milky Way. You can see all the stars. There's trillions of stars. There's more planets in the universe than there are stars.

[Liz Tenuto]

Wow.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yes.

[Liz Tenuto]

Wow.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Right?

[Liz Tenuto]

That's mind blowing.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It's like an unlock.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So you're looking up at the stars, but you can't see the planets. But there's more planets up there than there are stars. And Earth in our one unique, tiny little solar system sits in what's called the Goldilocks Zone next to our star, sun, which is the sun, which is a star. So from across the galaxy, if you were to look up at the sky, you would see our sun as a star. And in Goldilocks Zones, it's not too hot, it's not too cold, life can exist. So the way that this incredible scientist presented it to all of us at that time, it's like the Earth is scientifically impossible for it to be the only Goldilocks planet and the entire infinite, ever expanding universe. Right, right. So that thus began my belief in.

[Liz Tenuto]

That's so cool.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That whole, you know, side of science meets spirituality.

[Liz Tenuto]

That's so cool. That's very mind expanding, isn't it? I'm gonna have to dive into that.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Yeah. Thank you for letting me go on my diet about that. I wasn't planning on that. But truly brings me peace in my darkest of days to know how small I am.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

And like what a microcosm of time my life is. 80, 90, 100 if I'm lucky. You know what I mean? Across like an infinite timeline.

[Liz Tenuto]

That's very expansive. Yeah, those are very expansive thoughts. I like how. I like how big you think.

[Jessica Zweig]

Thank you.

[Liz Tenuto]

That's awesome.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Thank you.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

It's how I survive, like how I move through my own human experience with that connection. It brings me a lot of peace, you know. So thanks for reflecting that. Okay, final question.

[Liz Tenuto]

Okay, great.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

This is so fun again. I could talk to you all day. The final question is, are you familiar with the term New Earth?

[Liz Tenuto]

I am.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Great. So the way that I see the new Earth is the world. I believe you are absolutely building with your work, you know, a place of healing and safety and love and abundance and like oneness for it's like fifth dimensional consciousness, like through the heart versus the mind. So the final question is, what does it mean to you to be a co creator of the New Earth Rising right now?

[Liz Tenuto]

I think specifically in this moment in history, we're in a time where like Things are messy and it almost feels like the death of the old way. Like so much is kind of coming out and like we're becoming aware of so much corruption and so much abuse. And I think as we become aware of that, it's going to open up for so many more people that there's like this new way and that you can be more heart centered and that the old way hasn't been working for a long time and it's beyond time that we shift and that we change. And for me, my goal with my work is to have women take their power back so that they're not held back in their life by past stress or trauma, no matter how much they've been through. So no matter how much abuse or corruption or challenges they've experienced, that they can move forward and create a life that's more beautiful than what they could have imagined.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Spoken like a true lightworker.

[Jessica Zweig]

That's right, girl.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

That's what you're here for.

[Liz Tenuto]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

You're welcome. It's amazing.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

So good. Thank you so much for coming, Liz.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you for having me.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

This was amazing. Everyone go buy the book. We'll put it in the show notes, we'll link all the things. And you've got some fun bonuses with the book too. Yeah, have everyone go follow you all, all of that. But again, this was such a gift.

[Liz Tenuto]

Thank you so much for having me. Yeah.

[Jess (Jessica Zweig)]

Thanks for being here. I feel so calm.

[Liz Tenuto]

Me too. I feel calm and my mind is opened in a new direction. Love it. Yeah. Thank you.

[Jessica Zweig]

You're welcome.